Gift giving and receiving is an important activity in a person's life. People like to give gifts to celebrate special occasions, show appreciation and affection for another, and, in some calculating circumstance, to promote consumption of goods and services. Wedding gifts, birthday gifts, holiday gifts and anniversary gifts are all commonly given gifts. However, the practice of gift giving raises the eternal question of “what do you get for the person that has everything?”
In recent years, gift certificates and transaction cards have become the gift of choice for people who lack the time or creativity to invest the effort to get the “perfect gift.” Typically, transaction cards are debit cards having a magnetic stripe that encodes a monetary credit amount that can be read by an appropriate card reader. These gift cards are typically in the shape and size of the typical credit card. These transaction cards may be used as a gift certificate or prepaid credit for purchase of merchandise at a retail establishment. The retail establishment will typically be identified on the face of the transaction card.
However, some consider a gift card, by itself, to be a generic, and not entirely thoughtful gift. Therefore, a need exists for a fully-integrated gift giving experience. Here, the gift card may complement or supplement an actual gift. For example, one could purchase a DVD player for another and, in addition, give a transaction card good for purchasing DVDs to watch on the DVD player. This allows the gift giver to add his or her personal touch to the gift.
Integrated gift giving will also provide retail stores with marketing opportunities that heretofore have gone untapped. As previously mentioned, retailers will often identify themselves, by their logo, on the face of the transaction card. This is a very passive means of advertising the retailer's establishment. There is a need for actively promoting a retail establishment in combination with the giving of gift cards.
Manufacturers and retailers often use promotional coupons to actively promote their businesses or establishments. A need exists to integrate these active promotional materials with the transaction card so that gift givers can give the transaction card as a gift, while at the same time actively promoting the retailer's business.
The goal of the present invention is to provide an envelope supporting a transaction card which can actively promote the goods and services of a manufacturer, retailer or service provider or the like.